The Morgan Hill Sprint Triathlon was this Sunday. I LOVE this event because it is practially in the backyard of where I grew up, is a beautiful course, AND really sets the tone of the beginning of triathlon season AND summer. Sunday's race was the 5th year I have done this event. I have done the full event, and also as a relay. I did Sunday as a relay and did the run portion.
Doing just the run of a triathlon is AMAZING. No bike to lug around. No wetsuit to squeeze yourself into. I showed up to the event with my running shoes and a starbucks drip coffee the size of my head. I was ready to go.
My other teammates dominated the bike and swim and I headed out to my run. The run is 5 miles, and I haven't ran that far since the San Diego 10k in February. Since I am all about the bike right now, I have decided to not stress about running. I decided not to wear my watch and just find my natural pace that was still challlenging. Part of me felt kind of funny passing people because, hello, I didn't bike or swim. My legs were fresh. Well, compared to people doing the full race.
The 5 miles felt good...challenging, but good. I checked my time when I got home.50:50. I would have liked to have been under a 10 minute pace, but I am very happy with this time. Out of curiosity I checked my run time on previous races of this course. This was the second fastest I have done this run (which includes doing relay AND full course). And then I looked at my time in 2008, when I was a triathlon junkie. Here are my results:
swim ( 0:25:46.1 ) t1 ( 0:04:17.0 ) bike ( 0:57:30.5 ) t2 ( 0:02:39.1 ) run ( 0:48:21.7 )
Ouch. I did that run in less than 10 minute pace AND I did the swim and bike.
Who the heck was that girl? Or rather, WHERE the heck did she go?
OK, so here comes the moment in any weekend warrior triahlete's life when she has to decide if this is the moment to reframe the past. One option is for me to beat myself up for not being strong like I was before. Then I can give myself permission to be all "whoa is me...I am lame...blah blah blah pity party time."
No.
That is not an option. There is no self growth in that pity party.
So I decided to step back and do something that we should all do from time to time.
Admire yourself.
I tore that triathlon up. That is awesome. Looking back it was a stressful time as well---we had a busy event filled month at work and hubby and I just put an offer on our first place. I was racing every week. I was on fire! I know this sounds all big headed though it's not tooting my own horn--- it's more looking at myself in an objective way.
2009, 2010, and 2011 I was not that person. And that's ok. I still did great things--Seattle to Portland, 3.6 mile swims, attacking a 1/2 ironman again.
This year I am in a different place. Trying to balance the intensity of my 2008 self with the realities of my 2009-2011 self. The real reality is, I did weigh less in 2008. So, I am back on track with the weight watchers --the last 3 weeks I fell off the wagon. But now I am back on track. Not sure if I will be my 2008 weight, but that is not the point. The point is I am working hard and focused. From now on with every big workout I wll tell myself, "Today I will eat the bee."
"Eating the Bee" is my new phrase inspired by Jens Voigt, an awesome cyclist with even awesomer catch phrases ("SHUT UP LEGS!"). He was riding a stage of the Tour of California last week and a bee landed on his lip. He decided to leave the bee alone and be peaceful. But then the bee stung him. So what did he do? He ATE the bee! Show that bee who is boss!
Yesterday I decided to eat the bee. Hubby and I did hill repeats at Mt. Eden.Of course, before we even started the ride I noticed my front tire was flat. Fine. Let's fix it and get on with life. I rode hard. That is the point of Hill Repeat Monday. For all 3 times I rode Mt. Eden I maintained 93% heart rate. Each time when I hit the top I nearly had a breakdown like this.
But I did it. I ate that bee.And hopefully it will make me a stronger rider.
What bee will YOU eat today.?
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
"She was going so slow downhill, it was like she was going uphill!"
A couple weeks ago I wrote that my bike and I are now in a committed relationship.
Well, after yesterday's Wine Country Century in Santa Rosa, one of us sleeping on the couch.
If we were in couple's therapy, a session might go something like this:
Me: It's just sooooo hard. Riding a bike is so hard.
Bike: If you just go to know me better, and were prepared it wouldn't be so hard. It's like you don't trust me going down the hill---you squeeze my brakes so hard. And your cadence is all over the place--pick a number already!
Me: Don't judge me!
Bike: And the swearing! Why must you swear so much when you go up a hill?
Therapist: Ok, great work today. Same time next week?
I love my bike. I really do. And yesterday was just a bad bad bad day.
One of the things I like about having a blog is I can refer back to it and reflect on past experiences. This is the first time in four years where I have fully committed to my training. Four years ago I was training for Barb's Race, which is two weeks after Death Ride. Out of curiosity I thought it would be interesting to see where I was in my training around the same time (roughly two months until Goal Event). Here is an excerpt of the post:
At the beginning of this month, something happened that deep down I knew would eventually happen:
I didn't meet my goal.
I believe the risk of failing is one of the things we have to consider when we set goals for ourselves.
This was in reference to a half marathon I did, where I was really hoping to PR. I was training like I had never trained before. I had done a 1/2 marathon the month before in 2:02 and was determined to have a sub 2 hour marathon. And I didn't. And I was frustrated:
The disappointment I felt in myself brought a thought that I tried to push aside: why bother working so hard if the payoff isn't there? This thought is what I call being in the dark place of running and teetering so close to the edge where drooling over running shoes doesn't seem as important as being a couch zombie zoning on reality TV. I feared that my tendency to not finish what I started would come back because I know my personality likes to take on things quickly but lacks the drive to follow them through.
In the end I reminded myself this was not my BIG event. That it was all in prep for Barb's Race.
So, four years later I am in the same place. Sorta. Which is reassuring because it means I am working my body hard. This is the point where doubt and freaking out should happen because two months is not that far off, though in training that 2 months can really make a difference.
Ok, so on to yesterday's century.
Wait..before I get to that, I have to explain the week I had.
So, last Saturday was my 100 mile ride, which I blogged about. I have kept my plan to ride every day. So, Monday I did hill repeats with my friend Lisa up Mt. Eden. It was awesome! I had never felt that strong going up that hill in the 8 years I have ridden up it! And my legs weren't screaming at me after the long ride on Saturday. So, Tuesday night was two mile test with my workout group. The first Tuesday of the month is always two mile test and I was not looking forward to it. my legs were NOT fresh. We did our warm ups and then Coach told me to go. I hit start on my watch and moved it to a screen that would not show my time. I did not want to obsess about it. So, I decided to just listen to my body---see what pace it wanted to go that was still a challenge. No music. No constantly checking my pace. It was just me, my legs, and the track, It was feeling good. With a half lap to go I decided to check my time.
"Holy (expletive!)" I whispered out loud.
It read 19 minutes!
Last month my time was 20:52. My first run test of the season in February was 22:47.
I sprinted my heart out. I wanted to be under 20 minutes. I did it in 19:35. I took 3 minutes off my time! I was shocked. And elated. I talked to coach about it and she said why should I be surprised, I have been working hard. yeah, I said, but my legs are just tired. I didn't know they had it in them. To which she said it is good to work out on tired legs, i can pull from this experience when I am doing Death Ride.
The next morning before work a friend and I rode Montebello. It felt great as well. I mean, it is still challenging for me to climb 1900 miles in 5 miles, but it wasn't as bad as before.
Thursday and Friday were both light recovery rides so I trainered while watching bad TV. Dennis and I decided to make a weekend away for my bike ride. I drove to Guerneville Friday afternoon (ugh 3 hour commute--yuck!) and he rode his motorcycle there. We went to dinner and then crashed. I woke up the next morning and met my friends at the ride start. I decided to do the 200k.
I ended up doing 80 miles.
The ride was beautiful. There was a challenging climb about 20 miles in. It was hard. And my quads were shot. This was not a good sign. I made it to the first rest stop, ate and drank and then headed out. The downhill was intense, we were headed to the coast and it was very twisty turny. There was a guy dressed in a grim reeper costume holding a sign that read: "slow."
So my hands became one with my brakes. I went slowwwwwww. So slow that one guy on the ride was actually talking about me. It was after the hill when we were on highway one, and he was talking to his buddy (didn't realize I was behind them) "did you see that girl? She was going so slow downhill it was like she was riding uphill."
Ouch.
I shouted, "THAT WAS ME!" but he didn't hear me.
The rest of the ride was very pretty but my body was just not having it. My hips hurt, but mostly my thighs were on fire. People kept whizzing past me. And then I had a big old pity party: I am a slow, crappy cyclist. I am not good at this. What the heck was I thinking signing up for death ride, I am not good at this. I don't deserve to be here.
Yeah. It got dark. At about 65 mile I decided to do the 100 mile route and took the cut off. Except, it turned out to be the cut off for the 35 mile route. I was beat up. And I was disappointed with myself for not doing the whole distance. Why was this ride so hard? What is going on?
I talked it over with Dennis (who reassured me that 80 miles is nothing to sneeze at). So, right now I am going to focus on numbers: heart rate and cadence. The big leg muscles are doing lots of work so those little muscles need to engage and my cadence should be faster. I need to think about my nutrition because all week long I was hungry and tired. So, the good news is I have consistent working out as part of my routine. Now is the part where I have to fine tune things.
My next event is the Sequoia Century. It is a very hilly 100k and I need to be ready for it. I WILL be ready for it.
Well, after yesterday's Wine Country Century in Santa Rosa, one of us sleeping on the couch.
If we were in couple's therapy, a session might go something like this:
Me: It's just sooooo hard. Riding a bike is so hard.
Bike: If you just go to know me better, and were prepared it wouldn't be so hard. It's like you don't trust me going down the hill---you squeeze my brakes so hard. And your cadence is all over the place--pick a number already!
Me: Don't judge me!
Bike: And the swearing! Why must you swear so much when you go up a hill?
Therapist: Ok, great work today. Same time next week?
I love my bike. I really do. And yesterday was just a bad bad bad day.
One of the things I like about having a blog is I can refer back to it and reflect on past experiences. This is the first time in four years where I have fully committed to my training. Four years ago I was training for Barb's Race, which is two weeks after Death Ride. Out of curiosity I thought it would be interesting to see where I was in my training around the same time (roughly two months until Goal Event). Here is an excerpt of the post:
The risk we take...
I didn't meet my goal.
I believe the risk of failing is one of the things we have to consider when we set goals for ourselves.
This was in reference to a half marathon I did, where I was really hoping to PR. I was training like I had never trained before. I had done a 1/2 marathon the month before in 2:02 and was determined to have a sub 2 hour marathon. And I didn't. And I was frustrated:
The disappointment I felt in myself brought a thought that I tried to push aside: why bother working so hard if the payoff isn't there? This thought is what I call being in the dark place of running and teetering so close to the edge where drooling over running shoes doesn't seem as important as being a couch zombie zoning on reality TV. I feared that my tendency to not finish what I started would come back because I know my personality likes to take on things quickly but lacks the drive to follow them through.
In the end I reminded myself this was not my BIG event. That it was all in prep for Barb's Race.
So, four years later I am in the same place. Sorta. Which is reassuring because it means I am working my body hard. This is the point where doubt and freaking out should happen because two months is not that far off, though in training that 2 months can really make a difference.
Ok, so on to yesterday's century.
Wait..before I get to that, I have to explain the week I had.
So, last Saturday was my 100 mile ride, which I blogged about. I have kept my plan to ride every day. So, Monday I did hill repeats with my friend Lisa up Mt. Eden. It was awesome! I had never felt that strong going up that hill in the 8 years I have ridden up it! And my legs weren't screaming at me after the long ride on Saturday. So, Tuesday night was two mile test with my workout group. The first Tuesday of the month is always two mile test and I was not looking forward to it. my legs were NOT fresh. We did our warm ups and then Coach told me to go. I hit start on my watch and moved it to a screen that would not show my time. I did not want to obsess about it. So, I decided to just listen to my body---see what pace it wanted to go that was still a challenge. No music. No constantly checking my pace. It was just me, my legs, and the track, It was feeling good. With a half lap to go I decided to check my time.
"Holy (expletive!)" I whispered out loud.
It read 19 minutes!
Last month my time was 20:52. My first run test of the season in February was 22:47.
I sprinted my heart out. I wanted to be under 20 minutes. I did it in 19:35. I took 3 minutes off my time! I was shocked. And elated. I talked to coach about it and she said why should I be surprised, I have been working hard. yeah, I said, but my legs are just tired. I didn't know they had it in them. To which she said it is good to work out on tired legs, i can pull from this experience when I am doing Death Ride.
The next morning before work a friend and I rode Montebello. It felt great as well. I mean, it is still challenging for me to climb 1900 miles in 5 miles, but it wasn't as bad as before.
Thursday and Friday were both light recovery rides so I trainered while watching bad TV. Dennis and I decided to make a weekend away for my bike ride. I drove to Guerneville Friday afternoon (ugh 3 hour commute--yuck!) and he rode his motorcycle there. We went to dinner and then crashed. I woke up the next morning and met my friends at the ride start. I decided to do the 200k.
I ended up doing 80 miles.
The ride was beautiful. There was a challenging climb about 20 miles in. It was hard. And my quads were shot. This was not a good sign. I made it to the first rest stop, ate and drank and then headed out. The downhill was intense, we were headed to the coast and it was very twisty turny. There was a guy dressed in a grim reeper costume holding a sign that read: "slow."
So my hands became one with my brakes. I went slowwwwwww. So slow that one guy on the ride was actually talking about me. It was after the hill when we were on highway one, and he was talking to his buddy (didn't realize I was behind them) "did you see that girl? She was going so slow downhill it was like she was riding uphill."
Ouch.
I shouted, "THAT WAS ME!" but he didn't hear me.
The rest of the ride was very pretty but my body was just not having it. My hips hurt, but mostly my thighs were on fire. People kept whizzing past me. And then I had a big old pity party: I am a slow, crappy cyclist. I am not good at this. What the heck was I thinking signing up for death ride, I am not good at this. I don't deserve to be here.
Yeah. It got dark. At about 65 mile I decided to do the 100 mile route and took the cut off. Except, it turned out to be the cut off for the 35 mile route. I was beat up. And I was disappointed with myself for not doing the whole distance. Why was this ride so hard? What is going on?
I talked it over with Dennis (who reassured me that 80 miles is nothing to sneeze at). So, right now I am going to focus on numbers: heart rate and cadence. The big leg muscles are doing lots of work so those little muscles need to engage and my cadence should be faster. I need to think about my nutrition because all week long I was hungry and tired. So, the good news is I have consistent working out as part of my routine. Now is the part where I have to fine tune things.
My next event is the Sequoia Century. It is a very hilly 100k and I need to be ready for it. I WILL be ready for it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)